Minnesota Sports Forum

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2026 9:24 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2026 9:06 pm Aussie, Agree that this has been a cordial and informative dialogue, which is probably why Tim hasn't nixed it or moved it to the off topic section yet!

I agree that gender dysphoria is a real thing, just like lots of other psychological conditions. It should be treated with care and respect. What those treatment options look like and at what age should hormonal/surgical treatments be allowed (if ever) is what's hotly debated.

The terms male and female are inextricably linked to biology, which is a hard science. There is no suitable definition for either word without referring to hard biological truths which is determined during the moment of conception. My main problem is that the most zealous Trans activists and advocates want to compel the rest of society to make one's gender completely independent of biology, including changing the nomenclature (e.g. from Mother to Birthing Person). And they attack anyone that pushes back, even if doing so with love and respect.

I'm hopeful that ultimately there is a consensus that forms as the science bears out and the politics runs it's course that is understanding and respectful of kids/teens dealing with gender dysphoria while also maintaining certain boundaries that recognize biological truths.

Devil's advocate I guess, but what's the hard biological truth for when a trans person has transitioned to the other sex? Is there a hormonal threshold, are genital inspections needed, birth records? If that trans woman/girl, who looks and presents completely like a woman/girl, is found to have actually been born with a penis, should they be made to compete against men? What about cis girls who just happen to present more masculine?

I'm pushing back because the "hard truths" are simply more flexible than we realize when they interact with the real world. In fact they are finding that more and more men actually have an extra X chromosome. So what does that mean?

Science isn't about hard truths, it's creating and proving theories with the best data we can find and test

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2026 10:31 pm

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2026 9:24 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2026 9:06 pm Aussie, Agree that this has been a cordial and informative dialogue, which is probably why Tim hasn't nixed it or moved it to the off topic section yet!

I agree that gender dysphoria is a real thing, just like lots of other psychological conditions. It should be treated with care and respect. What those treatment options look like and at what age should hormonal/surgical treatments be allowed (if ever) is what's hotly debated.

The terms male and female are inextricably linked to biology, which is a hard science. There is no suitable definition for either word without referring to hard biological truths which is determined during the moment of conception. My main problem is that the most zealous Trans activists and advocates want to compel the rest of society to make one's gender completely independent of biology, including changing the nomenclature (e.g. from Mother to Birthing Person). And they attack anyone that pushes back, even if doing so with love and respect.

I'm hopeful that ultimately there is a consensus that forms as the science bears out and the politics runs it's course that is understanding and respectful of kids/teens dealing with gender dysphoria while also maintaining certain boundaries that recognize biological truths.

Devil's advocate I guess, but what's the hard biological truth for when a trans person has transitioned to the other sex? Is there a hormonal threshold, are genital inspections needed, birth records? If that trans woman/girl, who looks and presents completely like a woman/girl, is found to have actually been born with a penis, should they be made to compete against men? What about cis girls who just happen to present more masculine?

I'm pushing back because the "hard truths" are simply more flexible than we realize when they interact with the real world. In fact they are finding that more and more men actually have an extra X chromosome. So what does that mean?

Science isn't about hard truths, it's creating and proving theories with the best data we can find and test

The human race wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the hard truth of biological males and females. Sorry, but that's pretty self-evident and not a theory. To your point, people born as intersex or with an extra chromosome actually is rooted in biology and is totally different from gender dysphoria. Those are biological outliers, but indeed are real and have their own unique challenges.

When you say someone that has transitioned, I'm assuming you mean they have fully completed sex change operations that have cosmetically made them look and feel more like the biological sex they prefer to identify with (the majority of transgender folks don't get surgery btw). That doesn't actually make them that biological sex even if they look and feel more like a conventional male or female, as the XX and XY chromosomes are unchangeable from the point of conception.

As for folks competing at the highest levels of female sports, the Olympics policy and process is probably the most stringent, but I'm not sure something like that is necessary yet in the WNBA.

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 7:48 am

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2026 10:31 pm

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2026 9:24 pm
Devil's advocate I guess, but what's the hard biological truth for when a trans person has transitioned to the other sex? Is there a hormonal threshold, are genital inspections needed, birth records? If that trans woman/girl, who looks and presents completely like a woman/girl, is found to have actually been born with a penis, should they be made to compete against men? What about cis girls who just happen to present more masculine?

I'm pushing back because the "hard truths" are simply more flexible than we realize when they interact with the real world. In fact they are finding that more and more men actually have an extra X chromosome. So what does that mean?

Science isn't about hard truths, it's creating and proving theories with the best data we can find and test

The human race wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the hard truth of biological males and females. Sorry, but that's pretty self-evident and not a theory. To your point, people born as intersex or with an extra chromosome actually is rooted in biology and is totally different from gender dysphoria. Those are biological outliers, but indeed are real and have their own unique challenges.

When you say someone that has transitioned, I'm assuming you mean they have fully completed sex change operations that have cosmetically made them look and feel more like the biological sex they prefer to identify with (the majority of transgender folks don't get surgery btw). That doesn't actually make them that biological sex even if they look and feel more like a conventional male or female, as the XX and XY chromosomes are unchangeable from the point of conception.

As for folks competing at the highest levels of female sports, the Olympics policy and process is probably the most stringent, but I'm not sure something like that is necessary yet in the WNBA.

Well I lost my whole response post....
Anyway, I was worried I didn't make my point that well and It seems I didn't.

To be clear, I do understand these biological fact and was not challenging them, but there are broader questions that challenge how we interpret these facts. Maybe that the most concise was to put it.

FNG wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 9:49 am McBride averaged 26.8 PPG on 73.6 TS% for the month of July! Not bad for arguably our 3rd best player, huh?

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 1:35 am Q hits on a key fact - No matter what drugs you take or what surgery you undergo, you cannot biologically transform into the opposite sex. Your DNA is your DNA.

As a man of faith I don't believe people are born into the wrong body or sex. I think God makes you exactly as who you're meant to be. Because every hair on your head is counted and every detail that goes into your makeup is perfectly arranged, I have a hard time believing that he swung and missed on assigning one's sex. Obviously people can suffer from any number of mental illnesses, and gender dysphoria is just one example. It just saddens me that in a lot of cases the mental symptoms receive the care and the root cause is ignored or not even sought. I used to suffer from panic attacks related to an anxiety disorder. I'm grateful the solution wasn't just to medicate me or remove the part of my brain responsible. Instead therapy helped identify the factors that contributed to the attacks and I was given tools to help control the issue. It's been decades since I've experienced an episode.

Get kids and young adults the proper help instead of affirming their current feelings to them. Growing up is hard, harder for some than others. No adolescent should be told they are actually existing in the wrong body. Their brain is still developing and emotional development is not linear. I feel for the kids of today, things seemed a lot simpler when I was growing up.

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 10:03 pm Well I certainly picked the wrong game tonight finally catch ....